Weekend Updates

Good Morning, Friends!

It looks like it's going to be a gorgeous spring day here in NJ. It's only 9 a.m., and it's already 55 degrees and sunny! The long-awaited spring is showing its beautiful face!

I posted a set of Earth Day math cards at Teachers Notebook this week. They are addition doubles through 20, along with the related subtraction facts. There are recording sheets and answer keys for both Scoot and Read the Room, with 20 fact cards for Read the Room and an additional 12 to add to the set if you're playing Scoot. This weekend, it's half price - $1.25! Click on the image to find out more.

 

 

While you're at Teachers Notebook, check out my giveaway for a free set of Maddy and Math emergent reading books for first grade Common Core math topics. I'm giving away three sets this week.

 

 

Stop back here at Primary Inspiration tomorrow for a giveaway I think you'll like! I'm putting the finishing touches on a special new riddle set and am excited to be giving a few away right here!

 

 

Happy Teaching!

Addition on the Hundred Chart - Adding by Counting On

Hi, Teaching Friends!

Do you eat your soup with a slotted spoon? Silly question - of course not! It's not the right tool for the job!


The same thing goes for math. Selecting the most effective and simple tool, or strategy, is the way to get the job done. So we fill our young mathematicians' pockets with lots of different tools, and guide them in selecting the right one for the task at hand.


The hundred chart is an awesome tool. Once a child understands how to use it for addition and subtraction, has an understanding of adding and subtracting tens, and can pop up a hundred chart in his or her head, two digit operations are a piece of cake. Truth be told, since I started to use the hundred chart more in teaching, I tend to find that it's on a little pop up menu of tools in my own head, too.


Whether you're introducing or reviewing addition on the hundred chart, here's a little Valentines version to try. All you'll need is a chart, one die, and some sticky hearts in a few different colors.


Take turns rolling the die and adding that many hearts to your chart. Record the number model for what you do each time. The first shot shows 4+3=7.

 

 

 

Roll again, use a different color heart, and this shows starting at seven and counting on five more, 7+5=12.

 

Easy practice, and the Valentines Day theme brings in some variety and holds attention. My hundred chart, by the way, is from MPM School Supplies. They're offering free shipping this month on all orders over $29. I find they have good prices and speedy delivery!


You may also want to try some cross-curricular practice with this Maddy and Matt Valentines Day printable emergent reader that practices the same skill. Maddy and Matt are putting their valentines into a box of 50 cards (aka the first half of a hundred chart). It's an easy-print book ... just collate, copy, staple along the left edge, and make one horizontal cut for each set of two books. Click on the image to see it at my store!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Happy Teaching!

Free Emergent Math Reader

Hello, Teaching Friends!

Just two quick notes for you before we talk freebies...

My vocabulary and decoding set - 13 games and activities for literacy centers - is half price through Monday at my Teachers Notebook shop. This set for grades 1 through 3 can be used with any word list, whether its spelling words, word wall words, content area vocabulary, or whatever. It's my best seller at Teachers Notebook, and it's on sale for $3! Click on the picture to go there.

 

 

 

Stop by Teacher Treasure Hunter's blog to join in her great big giveaway in celebration of 500 followers at TPT and 1500 on Facebook. Lots of prizes, and guess what? The biggest part of the treasure chest is for the primary grades - 38 prizes!! To go there and enter, just click on the picture ... good luck!

 

 

 

You might remember that I blogged last week about my new set of emergent readers to support your teaching of K-1 math standards. There are six guided reading books in the set, each for a different standard. Take a look back here to find out more about them, and to get a free Maddy and Matt board game!

 

 

 

Would you like to try a free Maddy and Matt emergent reader about place value? Just click on the picture below to download your copy!

 

 

 

 

 

  

For more teaching tips about building math/literacy connections, see my post today at Teaching Blog Roundup.

Happy Teaching!

 



Introducing Maddy & Matt, the Math Stars... and their First Freebie!

Hi, Teaching Friends!


How's your Christmas break going? We had a lovely family Christmas ... there's nothing better, right?

I'm excited to announce that I have FINALLY completed and posted a set that I've been working on... well, forever, it seems like. I actually started it way back in early October, got it started, and then kept going back again and again to add to it and polish it up. I am super excited about it!

So, here goes... introducing...

Maddy and Matt are the cutie pie Math Stars (thanks to Krista Wallden at Creative Clips!) who'll be featured in a whole set of resources that will strengthen your students' math/literacy connection. The collection begins with this set of six guided reading books.



As you use this set of six guided reading books in small groups for reading or math, you'll be helping your students build connections between their learning in math and reading, and we all know how crucial connections are to deeper understanding and retention. Your students will also be strengthening their use of strategies for reading and for math. And, guess what? You'll be saving time, too, as you address multiple standards simultaneously!

Here are the topics of the six books.

     * Adding one (K.CC.7, K. OA.2)
     * Addition Strategies/ Adding Doubles (1.OA.3)
     * Missing Addends/ complements of Ten (K.OA.4)
     * Geometric Shapes (K.G.2)
     * Data Collection (1.MD.4)
     * Sums of Ten (K.OA.4)


Want to see more? Click on the picture to see the set at my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

All of the Maddy and Matt resources will combine skills and strategies in both reading and math. Here's a freebie to give you a little taste of what I mean. When your students play this partner game to practice adding and subtracting ten, they'll also be reading math words and interpreting and applying math expressions like "ten more than" and "is equal to", which means they'll be reading lots of sight words, reading phrases with increased fluency, and more. Hey, that's a whole lot of standards in one dose!

Click on the image to download your freebie!

Enjoy the freebie... and watch for more adventures of Maddy and Matt, the Math Stars!


Happy Teaching!